Six Bad Things: A Novel [Paperback]

Charlie Huston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 28, 2005

Hank Thompson is living off the map in Mexico with a bagful of cash that the Russian mafia wants back and many, many secrets. So when a Russian backpacker shows up in town asking questions, Hank tries to play it cool. But he knows the jig is up when the backpacker mentions the money . . . and the family Hank left behind. Suddenly Hank’s in a desperate race to get to his parents in California before anyone can harm them. Along the way he’ll face Federales and Border Patrol, mafiosi and vigilantes, extortionists and drug dealers, and a couple of psychotic surf bums with an ax to grind. From the golden beaches of the Yucatán to the seedy strip clubs of Vegas, Charlie Huston opens a door to the squalid underworld of crime and corruption–and invites the reader to live it in the extreme.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

More than fulfilling the promise of Huston's 2004 debut, Caught Stealing, this remarkably assured hard-boiled caper has rapid-fire pacing, dead-on dialogue and a beleaguered protagonist who just can't get a break. Former minor league baseball player Hank Thompson barely escaped with his life at the end of Caught, making off with $4 million of the Russian mafia's money. Several years later, he's running a breakfast place in the Yucatan, down the shore from his secluded hut. When a Russian bounty hunter shows up asking questions, Hank Fed-Exes his bankroll to a friend in Las Vegas and sneaks north across the border. When not trying to kill him, two surf bum criminals convince him they're allies; as the book reaches its climax, Hank finds himself dodging a memorable cast of lowlifes, would-be mobsters and scammers. Huston takes care with Hank, making him funny and sympathetic (even as he reminds us that he has killed six people in New York), and giving even cardboard situations and slight exchanges charge. (One of the surfers on a pair of boots: "Kind of metallish for my taste, but fuck it, we're incognito, right?") This second installment of a planned trilogy will leave readers anxious for more.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* After 2004's exhilarating Caught Stealing--in which a regular schmo emerges from a bloody war between bad NYPD cops and Russian mobsters with $4.5 million in stolen cash, all because he agreed to watch a shady neighbor's cat--it's understandable that Hank Thompson just wants to fade away. Cat still in tow, Hank has built a beach hut in Mexico and finally stopped boozing. But his contact in the States warns him the heat's back on, and a young Russian backpacker shows up full of questions. Hank's ready to buy some peace, until threats against his family force him to make a desperate dash for California. There, he plunges into a kaleidoscope of violence spun by Mexican smugglers, Russian toughs, corporate thugs, Vegas drug dealers, and cops of every stripe. Even the guy who sells Hank a used car recognizes him from TV and tries to mete out some lucrative vigilante justice. Imagine The Blues Brothers as directed by Sam Peckinpah. But Hank demonstrates an almost-supernatural knack for survival, and one can't help but root for him even as he brings mayhem into the lives of family and friends. In this second entry of a promised trilogy, Huston also engineers one of the most dramatic protagonist personality changes ever seen in series crime fiction. Is he sure he wants to drop Hank after only three chapters? Frank Sennett
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 305 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; First Edition edition (June 28, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345464796
• ISBN-13: 978-0345464798
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #462,996 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Charlie Huston is the author of the bestsellers The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death and The Shotgun Rule, as well as the Henry Thompson trilogy, the Joe Pitt casebooks, and several titles for Marvel Comics. He lives with his family in Los Angeles.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A winner!, August 3, 2005

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Six Bad Things: A Novel (Paperback)

I love it when I find an author that thrills and excites me when I read their work. You know the one-your pulse quickens when you turn to page one and maintains until you finish the story. I hate it when I have to wait for the next installment of scintillating adventures. Charlie Huston is someone I've discovered, and I can't wait to read more and will follow his career with my hard-earned cash. Six Bad Things is the second book of a trilogy.

Former minor league baseball player Hank Thompson has a problem. He figured he'd be safe living the good life in Mexico with the $4 million he stole from the Russian Mafia just before leaving New York. Wrong! Now three years later a chatty Russian backpacker (who is actually a bounty hunter) is asking dangerous questions and Hank figures he'd best head back north. The lives of his family might well depend on it. On the way to taking care of business Hank will face a passel of bad guys who want to interrupt his trip. Nothing is easy for Hank.

I haven't read Caught Stealing yet, but you'd better believe I'll have it in my hands shortly. Then I'm going to settle in for what is probably going to be an entertaining ride, if it's anything like Six Bad Things.

If you like your suspense hard-boiled and don't mind violence, run, don't walk, to the bookstore. This book is fast-paced, exciting, believable and occasionally funny. Huston is a grand storyteller; you'll slip into the plot and buy into the "if this happened to me-well, that's just what I would do" mentality.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Thriller, March 13, 2006

By 

Richard A. Mitchell "Rick Mitchell" (candia, new hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Six Bad Things: A Novel (Paperback)

This is the sequel to Huston's "Caught Stealing". "Caught Stealing" was a terrific thriller that kept a frenetic pace throughout and had terrific twists and turns in the plot.

"Six Bad Things" keeps the same frenetic pace. There were fewer twists and turns in the plot than its predecessor, although there were still many.

In both these books, the reader has to suspend reality for a bit - they both have the classic amateur beats the pros scenario. Even so, Huston keeps the book going at a fast clip and just believable enough so the reader does not get exasperated. His main character, Hank, who is always one half step ahead of the bad guys - except for the times when they catch up to him (!) - is a good and sympathetic character even as he begins his descent into violence. Huston's bad guys are all very good. The reader gets up close looks at all of them, and all have depth and character.

The best part of Huston's plot style are the many times Hank is put into Hobson Choice situations with one alternative worse than the other...or the third or the fourth.

The worst part of "Six Bad Things" is that I do not think it would be as nearly as good if the reader has not read "Caught Stealing". It may be able to stand alone, but knowing what went on in "Caught Stealing" and how Hank became who he is certainly improves this book. It is why this review is almost a review of both (I'd give "Caught Stealing" 5 stars for the more complex plot).

I would recommend this book alone, but highly recommend it for those who have already read "Caught Stealing". This is the second in a trilogy. I look forward to the third.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Guy's Book, September 19, 2005

By 

Gary Griffiths (Los Altos Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Six Bad Things: A Novel (Paperback)

There is probably the literary equivalent of the "chick flick." This isn't it.

Hank Thompson seems like your average beach bum. An American ex-pat whiling away his days on Mexico's Yucatan coast - sun, surf, a beach bungalow, passive owner of an open-air beach bar dive. But as the story unfolds, we learn he is also a man with a history. A dangerous man living off a pile - a big pile - of cash that its rightful thieves want back. When a Russian backpacker unwittingly blows Hank's Mexican cover, he heads back across the border to protect his family and resume his briefly interrupted trail of mayhem.

With this backdrop, author Charlie Huston takes us on an extraordinary odyssey of evasion and murder unparalleled in pop fiction. Huston's lean and uneven, slightly nonlinear style is surprisingly effective. With shades of Boston Teran's sinister "God is a Bullet", or of Cormac McCarthy were he a Californian beach dude writing on while on Quaaludes, this is simply not your average thriller. Drugs, hookers, psychotic surfers, Las Vegas at its seamiest, the flat out depths of despair in society - this is "Six Bad Things". Addictive, engaging, powerful fiction. But like I said, it's not for everyone. For the rest, there's always "The Ya Ya Sisterhood".